Roach pizza anyone ?

The addition of a new ingredient - cockroach - to a pizza topping resulted in a Pizza Hut restaurant in Australia being fined more than $A13,000 (£5,400) for selling unsuitable food.


Yesterday's hearing before the Chief Industrial Magistrate, Gregory Hart, involved a Newcastle Pizza Hut at Stockland Mall, Jesmond, where an infestation of Blatella germanica, better known as the German cockroach, was so great that one was baked and served up to a customer.

Rachael Sutton, of the NSW Food Safety Authority, said cockroaches could contaminate food with their saliva and excrement, and spread harmful bacteria.

Tim Eakin, a solicitor acting for Yum Restaurants Australia, which owns Pizza Hut, said the company took the breaches seriously. He said an insect "cooked in the food is unlikely to cause illness", but admitted the food would be unacceptable.

"I don't say that to detract from the seriousness, but it is not a case of dangerous food."

The company was ordered to pay $A3000 costs.